Russian state agents behind 'grave violations' in Crimea: UN

Russian state agents have committed serious abuses, including torture, in Crimea, the UN said Monday, warning that the rights situation in the annexed peninsula had “significantly deteriorated” under Moscow’s occupation. In a fresh report, the UN human rights agency said that Russia’s annexation of the Black Sea peninsula in March 2014 had set off a broad crackdown targeting Ukrainian institutions and culture. The report found evidence of “grave human rights violations, such as arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances, ill-treatment and torture, and at least one extra-judicial execution”, the UN statement said.